The Calls of Faith 4: Retaliation as a Safety Valve in the Fabric of the Calls

Occasion: Transcription of an Isha khatira delivered on 5 April 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Tonight we take up the fourth of the calls of faith in Sūrat al-Baqarah, in which our Lord, glory be to Him, says: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِصَاصُ فِي الْقَتْلَى الْحُرُّ بِالْحُرِّ وَالْعَبْدُ بِالْعَبْدِ وَالْأُنْثَىٰ بِالْأُنْثَىٰ﴾ (O you who believe, retaliation is prescribed for you in cases of the slain: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female).^[1] We ask Allah to guide us to the best of speech and the best of deeds.

The General Meaning, and the Question of the Link

The general meaning in the verse is Allah's ruling of retaliation for one who kills deliberately, intentionally, with intent, and we will come to that. But before explaining the verse and its benefit we ask: what is the link between the calls of faith from the beginning of the surah to this point? There passed us ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انْظُرْنَا وَاسْمَعُوا وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ﴾ (O you who believe, do not say "Rāʿinā" but say "Unẓurnā," and listen; and for the disbelievers is a painful punishment), then ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ﴾ (O you who believe, seek help through patience and prayer; indeed Allah is with the patient), then ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِلَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ﴾ (O you who believe, eat of the good things We have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him that you worship), then ﴿كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِصَاصُ﴾ (retaliation is prescribed for you). So how do we make a fabric of this?

This is one of the important matters we need to learn: how to link the verses together in any place in the Noble Qur'an, especially if they resemble one another in part, whether at the beginning of the verse or at its end. For similar words in the Qur'an must have a general pattern in which they run and proceed in order to convey a particular meaning and a specific upbringing, in the personality of the Muslim or in building the structure of society. The similarities in the Qur'an are not random at all, and we seek refuge in Allah that anything of His speech be so; rather every similarity in it is connected to another, and when you gather it, it conveys a complete meaning.

The Sequence of the Calls

So come, let us look at the beginning of the calls. What is meant by ﴿لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا﴾ (do not say "Rāʿinā") — as we agreed earlier — is respect for the source of authority and good manners in its presence and not overstepping in word, deed or valuation. In it is the surrender of the self to a source of authority, and this surrender in itself requires patience, which is what we take up in the following verses: ﴿اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ﴾ (seek help through patience and prayer), then the prohibition of saying about one who is killed in the way of Allah, to the end of the verse. Then we come to the spheres of worship, respect and appreciation.

This respect, for which help is sought through patience, is not in one sphere but in several spheres. And the first thing to begin with: from where do people eat? For the first thing that occupies people in their lives is to strive for their food; all people run after «earning a living», after a loaf of bread. And this, which is the first thing that concerns them, may be a path to feuding among them until it reaches the stage of killing, so our Lord speaks to us about retaliation. So we have an appreciation of the source of authority for which help is sought, and its first spheres are the matter of food and drink, which may lead to feuding at some stage, so the ruling of Allah comes in this verse.

The Context of the Verses Before and After It

But what most requires effort here is linking the verse to the context of what is before it and after it. For you are before the saying of the Lord of the worlds: ﴿لَيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَنْ تُوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ﴾ (Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east and the west, but righteousness is whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day), and before it ﴿إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْتُمُونَ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَيَشْتَرُونَ بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا﴾ (Indeed, those who conceal what Allah has sent down of the Book and exchange it for a small price), and before it ﴿كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ﴾ (eat from whatever is on earth that is lawful and good, and do not follow the footsteps of Satan), and before that what the Children of Israel transgressed with. It is as though the Lord of the worlds is telling me, in the context of the verses, about a people who seek nothing but the face of Allah, and from whom no transgression of any kind occurs; so if they fall into what is called the mistake that goes as far as the stage of killing, they make the ransom for themselves from the hand of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him. And this is what happens in the matter of retaliation.

Why «كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمْ» (Is Prescribed for You)?

And why did He express it with the wording ﴿كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمْ﴾? And does it have other instances? Do you remember anything else in which Allah commanded with «is prescribed for you»? Fasting. And we also have ﴿كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ إِنْ تَرَكَ خَيْرًا الْوَصِيَّةُ لِلْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ﴾ (It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you, if he leaves wealth, that he make a bequest for parents and relatives according to what is fair, a duty upon the mindful of Allah). So if we put these three together — and we agreed that every similarity calls for us to look for the connections among these places — what do we find?

Retaliation is a right of Allah and a right of the servants. For which of the servants? The living or the dead? The living. For the people with us in Egypt say, when taking revenge for one who was killed: Tonight he can sleep in his resting place. And this is not a sound statement; for the dead has gone to his Lord, glory be to Him, with what he put forward, and what remains are the souls attached to revenge, wanting revenge for what happened before their eyes. So retaliation satisfies the living, and prevents them from attacking that person — indeed perhaps the whole family goes in that.

And as for ﴿كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ﴾ (fasting is prescribed for you), it is training in restraining the self from the lawful so that it does not extend to the forbidden: neither in fighting, nor in theft, nor in cheating, nor in anything else. And as for the bequest, it is for the next generation, for those who come after death, for the heirs. So it is as though the Lord of the worlds links these different groups, and places a safety valve through these sentences in which «is prescribed for you» occurs.

Retaliation and Vengeance

We are before a legislation from the Lord of the worlds, and we have two expressions: retaliation (qiṣāṣ) and vengeance (thaʾr). Retaliation is a right of Allah before it is the right of anyone, and in it is protection and safeguarding of society from some of its members attacking others. As for vengeance, it is not a right, but a human inclination in those who want to preserve their dignity among people: how is one of us killed and we do not kill one of them? So retaliation is justice and vengeance is appetite. And which of them is counted in the scale of legislation? Justice before the Lord of the worlds, exalted on high.

And His saying ﴿فِي الْقَتْلَى﴾ (in cases of the slain) means those whose killing was actually realized, not merely their death; so the scholars stipulated that the one killed be killed with deliberation and prior intent, and they laid down very many conditions so that the condition for retaliation is met in the rulings to come. And one whose relative has been killed is in the best of two positions: either he takes retaliation, or he takes ransom, or he pardons. Therefore the Lord of the worlds tells us at the end of the verse: ﴿فَمَنْ عُفِيَ لَهُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ شَيْءٌ فَاتِّبَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَأَدَاءٌ إِلَيْهِ بِإِحْسَانٍ ذَٰلِكَ تَخْفِيفٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ﴾ (But whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then there should be a following in what is fair and payment to him with good conduct. That is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy). Then He said after that: ﴿وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقِصَاصِ حَيَاةٌ يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ﴾ (And in retaliation there is life for you, O people of understanding). And this same ending came with fasting, and so we link the verses in their beginnings and their endings.^[2] Allahu akbar.

Fasting and Holding the Limits Sacred

And we agreed that in the verses of fasting there is a resolve upon me to abstain from every error whatever it be, because I abstain from what is right by choice at times that the Lord of the worlds sets for me; or let us say: I abstain even from what is right with cautions and limits that the Lord of the worlds sets for me. So in the matter of fasting, do I respect the matter of eating and drinking, in its presence or absence, or do I respect the limits of the Lord of Might, glory be to Him? Imagine that you are eating the pre-dawn meal with the morsel in your hand before your mouth, you can put it in, but Allahu akbar, the call to Fajr is sounded, so you look at it and put it down. Glory be to the Almighty!

I was once in Ramaḍān on a long journey, about seventeen hours on the road, so I ate the pre-dawn meal shortly before dawn at a place where I stopped and ate the food I had with me, and the call to Fajr was sounded. And when I arrived it was about an hour before sunset, and the food was beside me, and my eye fell on it whenever I looked around or glanced in the mirrors, although it was right before your eyes. Glory be to the Almighty! And you have an excuse and a concession, and if you break your fast you are not a criminal, neither before yourself nor before Allah, glory be to Him, and no one would blame you. Yet it did not occur to me that this was connected to the body such that something could be written against it.^[3] So what happened? It is holding the limits of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, sacred; you came to respect the limit in itself.

The Building of Allah

And therefore, when we speak about the matter of killing, we see very many texts that warn you against it. And it is related from the Prophet ﷺ that the human being is the building of Allah, and that whoever destroys the building of Allah is cursed.^[4] So by Allah, how can a servant dare to stretch out his hand against the building of Allah? And the sanctity of human blood is greater with Allah than the sanctity of the Kaaba. You wish to go to the Kaaba just to look at it, so what of the handiwork of the human being in front of you? Glory be to the All-Creating, the All-Knowing; he is greater in creative artistry and more delightful in creation and formation than everything besides him. And for his sake — this human being whom you do not like, whom you hate or who annoyed you or took a stand against you — Allah subjected the heavens and the earth and what is in them, and for his sake He moved the times with days and nights, and for his sake the Resurrection will be one day, and the world was one day.

In Conclusion

And I will not go on at length for you, for we are not here to explain jurisprudence, and we have kinds of retaliation and details, but we are not in the place for explaining jurisprudence. And the sum of the matter: retaliation is a right of Allah first, then a right of the human being, who observes it and follows it up, and who has an attachment to it in himself, so Allah, Mighty and Majestic, values this attachment in the living as it is regarded in His own Self, glory be to Him. So we are, then, before a safety valve in life: when we speak about retaliation in jurisprudential detail we see how Allah the Exalted placed cautions against overstepping and aggression in that retaliation.

I ask Allah, glory be to Him, the Exalted, to bless this gathering, to perpetuate affection between our hearts, to preserve our unity for us, and to grant us good understanding.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 178. And the earlier calls in al-Baqarah that the speaker recited: 104, 153, 172. And the verses referred to in the context: 177 (Righteousness is not…), 174 (those who conceal), 168 (eat of what is on earth), the bequest 180, and fasting 183. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The speaker mentioned that the ending of the verse of retaliation is the same as the ending of the verse of fasting, and did not complete the sentence in the transcript (it broke off at «لعلكم»), so it has not been completed in the text. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The wording in the transcript is slightly garbled; it appears that what is meant is that his abstaining was not out of fear of a ruling or of being held to account, but out of reverence for the limit. The detail of the meaning has not been determined with certainty. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The speaker cited this statement as being from the words of the Prophet ﷺ and did not attribute it, and it is not established with this wording as far as we know; it is among what some scholars have mentioned among the weak aḥādīth, so it has been rendered «It is related» without prophetic quotation marks. As for the magnification of the sanctity of the believer, what is in Sunan Ibn Mājah from the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar is sound regarding the believer's sanctity being greater with Allah than the sanctity of the Kaaba, and it should be checked before publication.